Friday, August 19, 2011

So on July 20ith at 6:00am we arrived at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas and a few hours later Aubrey's little left foot was gone. She woke up from surgery like a banshee but after the morphine was out of her system she was back to her old self. We only had to spend 23 hours in the hospital. The Doctor put a couple of oins in her heel pad to keep it from migrating so she had a full leg bent knee cast on. Everyone asks me why so high and bent knee. Well, if you stop and think about it, it is logical. If it was below her knee it would slide right off. Pain management was easy. She never complained about pain at all. So after a full day at home on tylenol codeine I changed to regular tylenol for another day. She still had no pain so I stopped that too. She amazes me! On the 9Th we headed back to Vegas for wound check. I expected that the cast would come off and we would either get a bandage or another cast and be on our way. Well Dr. Camp wanted to get her prosthetic started so we had to wait a little over an hour to see the prosthetist. He casted her in a removable plaster cast to create a mold and then she got a pretty purple cast for another 4 weeks. On September 6th the cast will come off, the pins pulled and she will get her new foot. We can not wait to see her run. Right now she is jumping all over the place on her right foot. I got her a walker but she won't use it.

Friday, July 8, 2011

I'm sure you've heard the story of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Well Aubrey put a new spin on it. Let's just call it Aubrey and the purple crayon UP HER NOSE. Yes she had the entire tip of the crayon broken off from the label up stuffed up her nose. Try as I might, I could not get a hold of that thing to pull it out. Off to the ER we went. They wrapped her up, pinned her down, poked and sucked but no go. He got out a small piece but he didn't want to further traumatize her so he sent us off to the ENT. My first instinct before we went to the ER was to call the ENT but I knew they were booked out for months and I figured they would just tell us to go to the ER. They sprayed a little numbing spray vasoconstrictor up her nose and had us wait about 10 minutes. Then Dr. Ramirez strapped her to a board and with some forceps to hold her nose open he reached in and gently pulled out the Purple Crayon. I was shocked by how easy it was for him and how large the piece of crayon was. I just hope that the popsicle, sticker and lollipop were'nt enticing enough to do it again.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Almost a year of no blogging and I'm sure all our fans have abandoned us. Since my last update, we have had a Gotcha Day a move and a Birthday. Because Aubrey had her third birthday she aged out of ECI (Early Childhood Invervention). Her speech was still delayed so she qualified for public preschool. How strange it was to see that little body climb the mountanous stairs of the school bus. Her speech has increased tremendously but she still drops a lot of consonants. I was concerned about her hearing so off we went to the ENT. In true Aubrey fashion, that turned into a hospital visit. The doctor was unable to clean her ears without sedation because her ear canals like the rest of her were just too darn small. Thankfully, the end result was that her hearing is fine.

When we accepted Aubrey's referral, we knew that we had many challenges ahead of us. Most of her serious health concerns were handled in Korea and we have come to find that they did a fabulous job. In February of last year we were left with a "let's wait and see" when it came to dealing with her left leg. I wasn't happy with that and it has weighed heavily on me since. All of that changed on June 27th. We drove an hour and a half to see Dr. Camp at the Children's Bone and Spine Center in Las Vegas. As soon as he looked at her foot, he knew that his job was to sell us on the benefits of a Symes amputation. I was sold before the words came out of his mouth and to my surprise, so was Jeremy. Daddy was ready!

On July 18th, we will see Dr. Camp again to ask any questions we might have and go over what will happen. At 6:00am on July 20ith Aubrey will be admitted to Sunrise Hospital in Vegas for the procedure. Basicly , what they will be doing is removing the left foot through what would be the ankle joint. The reason they go through the joint is to stop the growth there. The tibia will continue to grow but she won't end up with any spurs or anything on the stump. They will also take what would be the heel pad and wrap it over the end of the bone. This will give her more stability. She will be in a cast for 6 to 12 weeks dependent on her healing and she will be fitted for her prosthesis in 3 to 6 months. We are trying to prepare her by telling her that the doctor is going to take off her little foot and she will get a pretty new foot that will look like her right foot. It is going to be a tough road but we will get through it and she will start to function much more like a 3 1/2 year old. I ordered the materials to make a mold of her little foot so that she can always have a connection to it and she will be able to see what it looked like when she gets older. I will try to post pictures and I will post updates when she has her surgery. Beyond that, she is back to school for another year of per-k on August 15th.

About Me

We have known each other most of our lives and have been married 21 years. After having our boys, we decided to adopt a little girl. Well, we couldn't stop there because Jyly needs a little sister. So, here we go!